EXAMPLE 7415 OF THE INEXHAUSTABLE CAPACITY OF THE ARAB MIND TO DECEIVE ITSELF

Only a day after Coalition Provisional Authority administrator Paul Bremer announced that the deposed Iraqi president was in custody a rumour that US forces had grabbed the wrong man, and that Saddam himself had broadcast to his followers from western Iraq, set off perhaps the largest display of pro-Saddam street power since the invasion.

Cars drove through the streets of Sunni neighbourhoods, with passengers firing their weapons in the air, shouting: “It wasn’t him! It wasn’t him!” Shopkeepers responded with celebratory fire that in some cases went on for hours. In Adhamiya in north Baghdad protesters, including armed men dressed in the black uniforms of the Saddam Fedayeen, marched through the streets until they ran into Iraqi police and US troops. Clashes broke out in which at least four civilians were reported killed. In the town of Faluja, west of Baghdad, demonstrators stormed municipal offices and erected Saddam’s picture on the roof.